A near-death experience spawned a love of photography for David Wilson. He tells Nathan Bevan how a 35mm camera and the sprawling landscape of Wales helped save his life and picks his favourite 10 photos from his beautiful new book

That’s how celebrated landscape photographer David Wilson describes the moment the severity of the road accident that befell him as a teenager first became apparent.

Hospitalised with a broken neck and back, concerned medics gravely intoned that he’d probably spend the rest of his days in a wheelchair after coming off his motorbike while trying to avoid an oncoming car in his native Pembrokeshire 28 years ago.

“It seemed unlikely I’d ever walk again, although the weirdest thing was how calm I remember feeling about the whole thing.

“Some people might say I was in shock or denial, but I simply refused to accept my fate and cling to the crazy notion I’d be okay somehow.”

Convinced he could feel pain when medical staff stuck his legs with needles, Wilson would spend days staring at his toes and willing them to move, which they eventually did.

And, after six months in treatment – including gruelling physiotherapy at a specialist spinal unit in Llandaff, Cardiff – he was permitted home, able to walk again but in the knowledge he wouldn’t be able to get about like he did before the crash.

“I think that’s where my camera probably helped a lot,” he says, admitting that without the hobby he’d taken up the year before he’d have found his rehabilitation much harder.

“When you’re in the state I was in you can feel very self-conscious, like everybody’s pitying you, so being able to go out to take pictures helped a lot.

“So, whereas before I might have been disinclined to walk 30 or 40 yards, the thought there’s might be an image with captured just round the corner spurred me on.”

And the wealth of such sights around his home of Llangwm provided the content of Pembrokeshire (Graffeg, £25), Wilson’s first book of striking monochrome landscape photos in 2009.

It proved to be a world away from the nine-to-five office existence with which he’d paid his way until that point.

“I used to work in the civil service processing forms all day long and, God, it was awful.

“And after that I ended up working in a call centre, which was even worse, so me and my wife Anna sat down to discuss the mad idea of me switching to photography full-time.

“It was a big gamble, what with our mortgage and everything, but I’ve been lucky to be with someone so supportive.”

And now Wilson’s latest offering, Wales: A Photographer’s Journey, sees the snapper turn his sights to the whole of the country, with 150 atmospheric black and white images capturing everything from the slate mines of Blaenau Ffestiniog, through to the antiquated frontages of Hay-on-Wye’s many bookshops and the panoramic splendour of Gower’s Three Cliffs beach.

“The first book was easy to do because everything was right on my doorstep – I knew what I wanted and went out and got it

“But when you take on an entire country, albeit a relatively small one, you have to be a lot more focussed and plan your trips otherwise you end up driving up blind alleys.

“So I made sure I did my research, grabbed my orienteering map and off I went.”

And while his shots do indeed evoke “the stark and demanding beauty of rural Wales” and its “harsh abstractions and bare outlines” – as broadcaster Griff Rhys Jones so poetically puts in the book’s foreword – Wilson admits he’s always keen to include the evidence of human existence in his pictures, if not actual people themselves.

“Say, for instance, I wanted to photograph a mountain I’d have to try and get a glimpse of road, a telegraph pole or a washing line in there somewhere because most folk are more instinctively drawn to image if there’s something familiar in it to identify with.

“I mean, sweeping landscapes and wilderness are great, but how many of us really experience that in our daily lives?”

And, despite his success with the medium, the dad-of-two says he probably doesn’t fit many’s preconceived idea of what a landscape photographer should look like.

“They’re all supposed do be rugged sorts, outdoorsy rock-climbing types who can trek for miles,” he laughs.

“And I still find it quite difficult getting around, you know? In fact, if I spend a day out and about it’s pretty much a surety the next 48 hours will have to be written off.

“But that’s what makes it a real labour of love for me and I consider myself nothing but lucky to have it.

Wilson adds: “Just the other day someone asked me what I did for a living and I almost felt guilty about my answer.

“Because to describe what I do as a job is an insult to those who work long hard hours in tough industries.

“Whereas what I have is a genuine passion that, thankfully, also pays my bills,” he smiles.

Blaenau Ffestiniog, North Wales “Throughout Wales you stumble across examples of an industrial heritage in decline and Blaenau Ffestiniog was built on slate.

“Most of the mines have closed now and this image could be a metaphor for those bygone industries; a neat row of workers cottages with the obligatory chapel dwarfed by a huge mountain of slag.

“I shot it from a distance to give the impression that the terrace is about to be engulfed – I’m sure it's quite safe though.”

Towards Fan Foel, The Black Mountain “A late winter’s afternoon with the sun dipping ever westwards, a solitary wind-bent tree and some sheep.

“Wales has its fair share of barren locations, a sense of wilderness where you can escape modern life and the Black Mountain is one such place, an area of rugged and brutal beauty.

“It was actually a hard shot to get, and if you don’t believe me you try finding tree on the Brecon Beacons!”

Cnicht mountain from Croesor village, Snowdonia “Rising to a shapely 689 metres (2260 feet), Cnicht is known affectionately as the ‘Welsh Matterhorn’.

My including the clothes line in the foreground injects a hint of playfulness, as well as acting as a handy scaling device allowing you to appreciate the full grandeur of the mountain.

“Obviously I waited for the poor woman who was pegging it her washing to scuttle back inside before I took it.

“I’m not sure if she ever seen the image or if she’ll be impressed, but at least she wasn’t hanging out her smalls when it was taken.”

Eglwys y Grog, Mwnt, Ceredigion “I love discovering whitewashed buildings in the landscape especially when they’re as evocative as this church at Mwnt.

“Sitting within an earth and stone embankment and with its simple architecture, the church is redolent of early Christian buildings.

“Usually I’d never take a pic with a clear blue sky on show but in this instance it worked and really brought out the whites. Then, by twisting the polarising filter quite heavily I managed to turned the sky an inky black, which looked even more striking.”

Maenclochog, Pembrokeshire “This image conjures up such a traditional visualisation of the Welsh village, with cottages hunkered down behind sturdy stone walls and what was once the hub of village life, the chapel, in the middle of it all .

“I was drawn by the simplicity of the three pine ends seemingly connected by the telegraph pole and the fact you can almost feel the dampness on the mist.

“Of all the photos I've ever taken definitely in my top five, and I love corrugated roof extension – very old school rural Wales that.”

Three Cliffs Bay, Gower “Another of those Welsh weather days; bright sunshine one moment, bucketing down the next.

“The changeable elements is one of the many ingredients that makes photographing Wales both a pleasure and a challenge.

“I took it in January and the sand looks very light, almost like snow.

“It had been pouring down for most of the day before I took it, and if you look carefully you’ll see someone's clearly been making their own attempt at a crop circle with foot prints in the sand. But there was definitely no one around when I got there.”

Cwmorthin Slate Mine, near Blaenau Ffestiniog “There’s always an eerie feeling strolling around former industrial sites such as Cwmorthin.

“Where once there was an energised sense of purpose, a well directed operation requiring the input of countless individuals, there is now total peace and quiet.

“Indeed, it’s one of most serene and tranquil places I've been too, while dotted all around it all these empty shells of the buildings where workers used to live during the week before returning home to their families on a weekend.”

Dinefwr Park, Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire “I like the starkness of the bare trees set against the white sky and wintry surroundings.

“I shot it a year ago last November when we had all that heavy snow. I was just really taken by the shape it made.”

Porthgain, Pembrokeshire “Porthgain is a picturesque harbour village nestling into the rugged north coast of Pembrokeshire which attracts more than its fair share of visitors during the tourist season.

“But, despite that, it’s also a busy working harbour, landing lobster, crab and other shellfish.

“I love the breakwater and the little boats, while the white building is what would’ve been the harbourmaster’s house.

“Porthgain also used to be famous for exporting stone all over the UK.”

Lambs at Blaen y Nant, Ogwen Valley, Snowdonia “This image was part of a wonderful day I spent on the organic farm of Gwyn Thomas.

“He was readying these lambs for their final journey to the dinner plate – a harsh but undeniable fact – something his father and their countless ancestors had done before him.

“The location of farm was breathtaking and they were all just so welcoming.”